Warm Bodies (2013) directed by Jonathan Levine, 31st January

Plot

R ( Nicholas Hoult) is not your run of the mill Zombie. Who happens to on one day save the life of Julie ( Teresa Palmer) from being eaten (very un-zombie like) and the two form a relationship which triggers a change in him and the rest of the world.

 Review

So it 's the usual zombie boy meets human girl. Zombie boy does not eat human girl brain's but instead falls in love with human girl and initially it is unrequited but slowly a bond  forms which then grows into something else in unlikely circumstances. This leads to a physiological change to occur to R.

Yes, he is from the the wrong side of the living and she is from the right side of the living. It's all so West Side story, Sharks and Jets . Romeo and Juliet, Montague's and Capulet's and finally we have Warm Bodies, R and Julie, Zombies and Humans.

This is a Zom Romcom. Starting off with a zombie perspective the story gets going with a monologue, well, hey, Zombies can't talk. R feels isolated and alone in his world and only feels 'human' when he is surrounded by his stuff and his records. Which he has some how accumulated and can play and enjoy them too. R and a fellow zombie M ( Rob Corddry) his best friend both then decide to head to town looking for food and particularly BRAINS. Apparently zombies can experience memories if they eat brains and cannot sleep nor dream and being dead...they are very cold to touch. There are also other zombies unfortunately called "Boners." These are zombies who are too far gone and have torn off their own flesh.

It's during R & M's hunt for food and brains when they stumble on Juliet and her fellow humans. Here R has an instant attraction to Julie even though she does not know it as she fends off the Zombie hoards. This attraction becomes stronger after consuming some brains which leads him to save Juliet from death by brain consumption.

So a beautiful and awkward romance begins and blossoms. A stirring occurs which some how triggers a biological and physiological change to R. It's the start and during this that we see most of the comedy which is also seen in the trailer. As the change to R occurs, he starts to reconnect with the living by slowly starting to talk and then doing everything a zombie can't do to finally having a beating heart and able to bleed.

The performances were fine from Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer. Both quite likeable. John Malkovich performance is definitely by the numbers. Rob Corddry steals it for me as M as he is given most of the comedy moments playing it dead ( sorry) straight.

This is all a thinly veiled slant at modern life. Where we are all already zombies where we do not talk to others and stay isolated listening to our ipods and being fixated with our smart phones. It's message of love, compassion and politeness to others will allow us to reconnect and break down barriers. To become a community again instead of remaining isolated tribes. Hey, maybe I'm reading too much into this.

Finally, it's a short film at 97mins. Light and likeable. Are you going to really remember it ... probably not but with all the other heavy films of Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty around this is welcome light relief.

7/10

Django Unchained (2012) Directed by Quentin Tarantino, 26th January

Quentin Tarantino (QT) is proving to be a most versatile director, constantly changing genres but essentially sticking to high violence and revenge themes.

His new film a homage to the spaghetti western is definitely a homage. From the style of the opening titles  and even features a sound track containing pieces by Ennio Morricone you know you are watching a western.

The premise for the film is about a former escaped slave (Django) who is rescued by a law abiding former dentist come bounty hunter (Dr King Shultz) who team up to become a formidable bounty hunting team and eventually go out to together to rescue Django's wife form a cotton plantation owner Calvin Candie who now owns her.

This is classic Tarantino with great monologues interspersed with at a flick of a switch dramatic shoot outs which are bloody, graphic and almost cartoon like. This all sounds rather heavy but there are some comedy moments. From the Klu Klux Klan scene about ill fitting pillow cases, to why Django would choose a costume to look like a Little Lord Fauntleroy to a man constantly being shot whilst being caught in a cross fire.

It's a long film at 165mins and some scenes are over long and the film could have been whittled down a little bit to make it a little snappier.

Christopher Waltz is brilliant and essentially playing a similar character to Col Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds but a good version rather than an evil Nazi Jew hunter. Jamie Foxx is excellent too. Don Jonson did a wonderful turn as Big Daddy and there was a great little cameo of Tom Wopat (who used to play Luke Duke in the Dukes of Hazzard) as a US Marshall . Samuel Jackson provides a solid performance as usual. QT also makes a cameo as an Australian cowboy but with a dubious accent but hey, this is his film and it is a good film. So he can be forgiven for this turn.

This is not a perfect film but it is still heads and shoulders better than a lot of films released. It's definitely entertaining and I'm already looking forward to the next QT film. I wonder what genre he will tackle next?

8.5/10